Music Video Review: Hozier – ‘Cherry Wine’

The music video for 'Cherry Wine' is impassioned and poignant in the way it shines a light on the issue of domestic violence.

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Irish singer-songwriter, Hozier, released his Take Me To Church EP back in 2013, and with his self-titled debut album that soon followed he has gained both popular and critical acclaim. He has now released the video for track ‘Cherry Wine’, which shines a light on the issue of domestic violence. Admirably, Hozier is donating all proceeds from single downloads to domestic violence charities worldwide.

The video stars Oscar-nominated actress, Saoirse Ronan, as the sufferer of domestic abuse at the hands of her partner. This is not the first time that Hozier has had a famous face starring in his music videos, as previous singles ‘Someone New’ and ‘From Eden’ have starred Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer and Jurassic World’s Katie McGrath respectively.

The video opens with a shot of Ronan sitting in front of a mirror looking rather despondent as she adjusts her hair to cover one side of her face, which immediately sets the serious tone for the video that is to follow. The shots of her in front of the mirror are intercut with the slowed down footage of her seemingly happy and infatuated with her partner, who is played by actor Moe Dunford. The volatile and abusive nature of their relationship soon becomes apparent when Ronan is shown to be taking off her make-up to reveal a bruised eye, which her partner proceeds to cover with her hair. In doing so the video sends out the important message that just because a couple may look happy on the surface they may in fact be in an extremely unhealthy and dangerous relationship behind closed doors. The final shot of Ronan looking at the camera with a tear rolling down her face and her bruised eye on show really hits home the seriousness of the message and #FaceUpToDomesticViolence appearing on the screen at the end encourages people to do something to help prevent the issue from continuing.

When discussing his involvement in the campaign, Hozier said, “Domestic violence is an ongoing issue in our society, the statistics of which are shocking and the effects of which damage whole families, communities and span generations. With the song ‘Cherry Wine’, I tried to get across the difficulty of coming to terms with and facing up to domestic violence and the dynamic of an abusive relationship.”

The video is the perfect accompaniment to the Hozier track and goes beyond simply being a good music video. It instead promotes the important message of encouraging people to speak out against domestic violence, as part of the wider #FaceUpToDomesticViolence campaign.

‘Cherry Wine’ is out now via Island Records, with the video available to watch below.